Rainbows, sunsets and halos; a spectacular
display of colors and visuals
in the sky called "atmospheric optics".
As sunlight (or moonlight) enters the atmosphere, it is either
absorbed, reflected, scattered, refracted or diffracted
by atmospheric particles or air molecules. These processes, individually or
in combination, are responsible for producing most optical effects.
This module investigates these particle-light interactions and the
assortment of optical effects they produce. The Light and Optics
module has been organized
into the following sections:

The type of optical effect that
results greatly depends upon the type of particles the light encounters and on
the wavelength of the light. For
this reason, the optical effects discussed in this module
have been grouped according to the following
classifications of atmospheric particles:
air, dust and haze, ice crystals, and water droplets.